The deafening roar of chaos was being drowned out by the ringing in my ears. Dust and smoke poked inside my eyes, blurring them while tears tried to clean them. My heart was hammering against my chest in rhythm with my trembling body. Everything was starting to clear up ever so slowly.

I was being held down by Denzel’s arms and he wasn’t letting go. His grip also loosened the more I was able to make sense of things. The shifting concrete, the distant screams and cries of help, and the sound of a storm became all too clear. What I saw was much worse.

The plaza and the Embassy lay in utter ruin, a desolate wasteland of shattered concrete and debris, a landscape transformed from its once-gleaming silver to a macabre collage of brown, gray, and crimson red. The towering structure that once stood proudly was now a mere memory, replaced by a sinister wooden spiral that descended from the sky. In its destruction, everyone lay lifeless, victims crushed under the weight of the building's remnants or impaled by grotesque wooden roots and vines that were emerging from the ruptured ground.

Beside me, a colossal fragment of a wall oozed blood where it had violently landed. A small arm protruded from the rubble, barely larger than my own, the rest of its owner's body obscured. Nearby, a man's lower half lay crushed, his desperate cries for help silenced, leaving behind a haunting please of anguish. A headless woman's body fell nearby, her head being sliced clean off. Another poor soul stumbled aimlessly, a small root skewering her neck until she too collapsed.

The air reeked of iron, poisoned by the acrid stench of blood that painted the ground red. The landscape was littered with motionless bodies, no different than stone. It was a nightmarish tableau, a horror becoming so vivid it felt surreal as if any moment I might awaken from this dreadful dream, praying that this gruesome reality was just that.

I emerged unscathed, bearing only a handful of scratches amidst the widespread destruction; all thanks to Denzel's valiant act that had saved my life. A jolt of shock reverberated through my paralyzed body, snapping me out of a trance-like state as I felt his protective embrace relinquish its hold.

Initially, I convinced myself that Denzel would be alright. He had always been among the strongest individuals, seemingly capable of withstanding any adversity. But that was back then. He collapsed beside me, succumbing to the relentless call of death. Dozens of sharp debris from the shattered building had impaled his back, which was agonizing but nothing he couldn’t bounce back from. I didn’t even dare to look at what else happened. I refused to accept the undeniable truth, averting my gaze from the grim reality that lay before me.

This wasn’t how things were supposed to unfold, I protested internally, desperately hoping to awaken from this cruel nightmare. But then, a surge of pain rippled through my abdomen, a tangible reminder that this was all too real.

I looked down at my stomach, noticing I had a small puncture but nothing serious. It was stinging and bleeding, yeah, but not any worse than a cut. Denzel said something but I could only hear the end of his sentence. Maybe it was due to the shock and confusion or all the noise around, but hearing him pulled me back to the ground.

“...alright.”

My gaze fixated back on Denzel, my eyes tracing the trajectory of what had pierced through him, an image I struggled to acknowledge. The wooden root branch, a ghastly weapon that had nearly penetrated me as well, now began its retreat into the earth, leaving a trail of his blood on his arm as it brunch against me.

“W…what’s happening?” My voice matched the rhythm of my trembling body. ”D-Denzel! Y-your tummy! What do I do?!

Denzel's chuckle was weak and coughing blood. “I’m..I’m sorry. I’m just glad I was able to save you,” his voice held no strength.

“W…h…I. I’ll get help. I’ll go get Clai-”

We were there, waiting for Claire's conclusion of her meeting I could tell her everything that was on my mind. She was inside the building when this all happened. In a single instance, the sense of losing everything engulfed me. The weight of the recent horrors and their profound implications crashed down upon me in a relentless wave. For an eight-year-old girl, there existed no worse scenario. Dying felt like a better alternative.

“Claire! Claire was inside! Sh…she’s dead… she’s dead.” My eyes became blurry with water. Denzel gathered the strength to hold my hand when he noticed. “I don’t want to be alone…”

Denzel's sparse tears fell before my own cascade could begin. His smile remained, serene amidst the sorrow. I sensed the life force within me coalescing into streams, coursing down to my hand, halting at my palm, and intertwining with Denzel's. I could feel his essence, his soul, what little remained. It clung to mine, resisting the inevitable pull towards the earth. Yet, despite my efforts, I couldn't halt the ebbing of his life force as it slipped away, sinking into the ground.

Helpless, I watched Denzel fade away. His emotions became mine as if our hearts beat as one. Denzel remained composed, harboring a fear of death yet finding peace the closer he became. Amidst fleeting twinges of regret and sadness, a sense of pride and joy prevailed. His predominant worry lingered in feeling inadequate, that he hadn't done or been enough. Yet the smiles of the children he'd nurtured erased his doubts. Then there was me. I remained alive. That alone, to Denzel, was more than sufficient.

“No matter what happens,” his voice was now nothing but hollow air; a whisper. “No matter how many times you get hurt. Always stay that cheery and curious girl. Don’t ever believe anyone who calls you a monster. Rae…don’t reject this world.”

I heard him, but I didn’t listen. He was worried about me, scared. But he knew I was going to be alright because I still had Claire. That everything will eventually be alright.

“No… no, no! Denzel… you can’t… you can’t die!” I cried out desperately, my voice trembling with fear and disbelief to where I couldn’t even understand myself.

“I want to believe Ballas was right. Look after Claire for me,” I pleaded with quivering lips, trying to hold back the surge of tears threatening to spill over.

“S… sh… she’s gone. Dead. I’m all alone now. I don’t know what to do! Where do I go?!” My words fragmented into an anguished plea, my voice cracking with the weight of sorrow. “You can’t leave me, Denzel! Please! Please! PLEASE! PLEASE DON’T DIE!” And then, in nothing more than a faint whimper, my voice wavered, “This was my fault…” I muttered amidst sobs, the words barely audible amidst the overwhelming surge of tears and snot. The weight of responsibility bore down on me, drowning me in a sea of remorse as I grappled with the agonizing belief that somehow, this tragic outcome had been a result of my actions.

Denzel drew in a breath his last breath, and exhaled deliberately. His presence seemed to fade out, leaving barely a trace behind. "Mother Gaia, Goddess of the lands, seas, and skies," he spoke softly, his voice fading. "I offer my sinful soul unto thee, to be reborn and purified. Grant your blessing upon your child, Rae, bestow upon her a life of happiness and health. Guide her toward fulfilling your will, whatever it may be. And may you reveal to Claire that she’s w...wrong about you. That..."

With a serene smile, Denzel passed away.

When Bellas passed away, I didn't feel much. I didn't really know him. Claire made sure of that. Sometimes, I wonder if it was to shield me from the pain. But with Denzel, it was different. In the two months I spent with him, I learned to feel a new kind of ache. I got to know him, to trust him, to genuinely care about him. He had his quirks. He loved to ramble and often went off-topic. His days were filled with phone calls and paperwork, yet he always made time for his little garden in the heart of the orphanage. He'd sit with me, sharing moments watching cartoons. Denzel was my go-to for any question about this new world I was navigating. I never saw him lose his temper with me. He didn't take life too seriously and remained an eternal optimist; like there was always something to laugh about. He was kind to everyone, seeing the good in people despite having every reason to seek revenge on the world that took so much from him. Instead, he chose forgiveness.

And now he was dead.

Time seemed to stand still like I was suspended in a cruel limbo of a void of anguish and guilt. My heart felt like it was trying to rip itself apart. Like whatever my lifeblood was made out of was boiling inside. I felt that the only thing that could make the pain go away was to die too. However, the cruel purgatory I found myself in grew infinitely more torturous as the reminder struck, it wasn't solely Denzel I had lost. The grim truth washed over me, each wave of remembrance crashing down upon my soul, amplifying the hollow ache that now echoed within my every fiber.

This was the pain that Claire wanted to avoid. The same anguish she likely endured when Bellas passed away. In this shattering moment, I comprehended the depths of her reluctance to embrace love, to allow herself to care. The agony was unfathomable, a relentless ache that seemed to sever the very fabric of my being. I now realized why Claire had insulated herself from such profound emotions; why she had erected barriers against attachment. In her attempt to evade this harrowing pain, she distanced herself from the vulnerability that accompanies love.

But she still had and chose to have those attachments to certain people, just never to me. Why couldn’t I be part of those few?

I remained standing, unwilling to release Denzel's lifeless hand, my cries of despair filling the air. The haunting cacophony around me drowned out my own wails. I heard only the voice of the crowd gathered outside the area, their screams and tears merging in a sick and vomit-inducing symphony of horror. Roots and branches protruded from the ground, warding off any attempts to approach. Those who dared were met with lethal force, impaled by these demonic tendrils. Despite the danger, brave souls persisted in their efforts to aid the living. Each agonizing cry and piercing sound only grew louder as the occurrences became less frequent.

At a point, it all went silent.

My mind ceased to function. Despair engulfed me entirely. A sense of hopelessness and helplessness pervaded me, for I could do nothing to stop this; I needed saving. How naive I had been. The tragedies and losses I'd read about were now happening in front of me. It’s one thing reading about them, it’s different when it happens to you.

It becomes real.

I turned to where the Knight’s building used to be in search of something, anything. I was completely alone. Denzel was gone, as was Claire. The assault felt like a condemnation as if the very planet sought my erasure. I had been forsaken, abandoned. There was an inherent flaw within me one that Claire had labeled me an abomination. Her rejection furthered this feeling of isolation, as though even the planet, The Goddess, spurned my presence.

Humanity excels at creating grief and hatred. It’s their disregard for lesser life and their expansion that corrupts the animals. It’s war and destruction of themselves that makes them the easiest to corrupt.

The plague isn’t an illness or a disease. It’s the will of a calamity that feeds those strong negative emotions. It’s a force that goes against nature but just as part. Something nobody truly understands, save for Claire. It’s been around for so long that she’s forgotten where it even came from. A calamity that fell from the sky that no one is safe from, not even me.

An unfamiliar voice, same as static, began to hiss within my mind. The air compressed around me, constricting like a suffocating embrace. It felt as though a ghost sought entry beneath my skin, a life force and essence distinct from mine or Denzel's. Human, yet not quite. Alive, yet bearing an aura of death. It didn't exude an aura of evil, but rather one of anger and desperation. Oddly, it carried a sense of familiarity, as if I'd encountered it before.

The weight of it all pressed down heavily upon me. My soul wrestled against this foreign entity attempting to infiltrate. I could’ve stopped resisting if I wanted to. I wanted to let go. I wanted the pain to stop. I didn’t want to be alive anymore.

I had every right to let it take me, but I knew the consequence: I'd transform into the very monster I sought to oppose, unleashing destruction upon all around me. Alive and still tormented by consciousness. Determined to resist this fate, I released Denzel's hand, realizing I owed my survival to him. He sacrificed himself for my sake, finding solace in my existence even in his final moments. I couldn't squander that gift.

My life force strengthened to where I could feel it circulating through my body like blood. With each pump cycling through, the ghost was pushed back. The hissing went silent first. Before the other force was expelled, I heard a voice. Whatever was said went unheard. It was so quiet that I couldn’t make anything out of it.

-

I glared at the catalyst that tore my life apart. The colossal wood, contorted into a lethal spearhead, began to shift and unfurl, resembling a blooming flower. As the massive petals descended, shaking the ground upon impact, one pillar teetered dangerously close to crushing me. Yet, I remained unfazed, my innate energy coursing through me, empowering me with a sense of invincibility, as though I could shield myself from anything.

Atop the central pillar stood a solitary figure, the mastermind behind this catastrophe, the very individual who robbed me of the life I was meant to have. Claire's presence in this city was solely to confront and find this man, and now he stood before me. The adversary of Claire, the enemy of our world.

I abhorred causing harm to others, always seeking to avoid unnecessary pain. I only resorted to violence for survival, even pleading for forgiveness when I killed for sustenance. But now, consumed by an unparalleled rage, it was an unfamiliar, unfiltered lividity that gripped me, an emotion so intense that it bordered on evil. I couldn’t make sense of it.

The threatening roots and vines that were worming around seemed to ignore my presence. I closed the distance, fixated on the man I intended to kill. Though still some distance away, I could sense his scrutiny. He wore a simple white robe with a concealing hood, but what I could see was his despicable smile and an infuriating sight that fueled my fury.

-

*BOOM*

The wood splintered and shattered, creating gaping holes in the building's structure. The white-robed man and I glanced upward, witnessing bodies propelled by the force of the explosions. Eight figures swiftly descended, encircling him. Among them, Earen stood out, the only one I could readily identify. Despite seeing only their backs, the radiant outlines of their weapons revealed their identities. The elite Knights of The Goddess, the most formidable of them all, had survived and were poised for battle. Each figure matched the ones captured in their photograph, an intimidating display of their prowess.

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Words are spoken to the group by their enemy. Words that I was still too far away to hear. Their opponent pulled back his hood, revealing himself to them. There was only a second of peace after.

The Knight in the center wasted no time and attacked the man only for his spear to be blocked by a rising wall made of the corrupted magical wood. Another Knight tried to follow up but was forced to block an incoming whip. Before anyone else could join the fight, dozens more roots and branches exploded out of the ground and attacked the world’s heroes; forcing them to jump out of the fight

I watched the Knights move and run around with such agility that was only possible with magic. No one was struggling as they cut down what was only a distraction. They began to close the distance back faster than I could focus on any of them. When the Knight with the spear got too close, the cursed magic changed targets. Every single branch now headed towards the onlooking crowd. The Knights were now forced to protect them, taking all their attention. The cursed magic was relentless and seemingly endless. With each root cut down, two more exploded out to replace them. The pace ramped up too fast and it became a struggle to keep up

An unnoticed branch hurtled toward the scattering crowd, hurtling dangerously close to my position. Its momentum sliced through the air past me. I realized I was the only one capable of averting disaster despite having of any weapon or sharp object. Even if it meant sacrificing a part of my own life, taking action seemed better than standing idle. With determination, I raised my hand and snapped my fingers, conjuring a flame to life. I poured every ounce of energy I could muster into the ember, disregarding the searing pain as my finger began to burn. Despite my efforts, the flame only grew to the size of a tennis ball. Out of desperation and no thought on how I began to the air beneath it, I compressed it with intense pressure, attempting to launch it like a projectile. The flame merely left behind a scorch mark, failing to deflect the oncoming danger, once again proving that I am powerless.

However, because of my magic, a Knight noticed. She was up in the air and didn’t have the time to stop it anymore. Without a beat, she raised her hand towards the rouge branch. Out of her palm, a massive fireball formed, launched, and destroyed what I failed to do before my hand dropped down in frustration.

She confirmed to me that they were all using magic, somehow bypassing the deadly flaw.

The Knight turned her attention towards me, surprised that I was even there. When she landed back on the ground, she yelled to one of her companions. But before she can run over to where I was standing, another explosion blew a giant hole near the center of the wooden flower.

I watched in disbelief and awe as the woman ascended into the sky, aiding the storm clouds that veiled the sun. Strands of radiant white light radiated from her back, slicing through everything in their path with astonishing force. With this distraction, her Knights seized the opportunity and launched an onslaught against their foe.

She appeared akin to an angel descending from the heavens, moving gracefully down as she surveyed the aftermath of destruction and the scattered bodies below. Her gaze lingered on Denzel's lifeless body as she found it, then shifted to settle on me, an intense focus shining in her eyes.

Completely ignoring the battle now taking place, she landed in front of me. My fear that this was just a delusion kept me from believing who was in front of me. I felt through so much in such little time I let it overwhelm me. My terror kept me from thinking straight. I should have known that it would take much more to kill her.

I wanted to hug her, letting go of all my stress when her presence finally sunk. I wanted her to tell me that everything will be okay now. I knew her well enough now to know she would only push me away. At most, I expected a ‘good job’ in her monotone and indifferent voice. I wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place, so I was waiting for her to yell at me. I was waiting for her to scold me because I got Denzel killed by making him bring us here.

A fierce battle was being fought behind her. A fight between the strongest people in the world versus one man and an army of hundreds of his autonomous root branches. Any other time, a battle like this would have my undivided attention. This was something I only read about and dreamed of seeing in real life.

But Claire was alive and in front of me and she was my only focus. Everything else was a blurred background.

Her lips curled up and her shining eyes were all I could see.

“What’s with that look? Did you really think that less of me?” Claire said it was a joke.

“I…I…Thought. Denzel died. Denzel died to protect me.”

“I see that.”

A Knight landed a few feet behind Claire before I could say anything else. It was the woman with long light pink hair. The one who shot the fireball. “Claire, what took you so long? We’re overwhelming him. I can’t believe he came to us. We can end it.”

Claire scoffed and it almost sounded like a chuckle. “Isn’t it a bit reckless for you to fight?”

“I’m managing.”

“Stay here and protect this little puppy.”

The woman with the light pink hair kneeled down to me and asked if I was okay, “Let’s get you out of here.”

But my attention was solely on Claire. The strongest being in the world sprinted towards the fight. The evil villain noticed her approaching and summoned giant roots to push everyone to the side, making a straight path for Claire; inviting her.

Claire unsheathed her sword, jumping forward and much faster than her Knights did. Oddly, The final boss didn’t even attempt to defend himself. It looked like Claire was going to get a clear strike. But right as she got close, her body tensed up, stiff like her statue. She stabbed into one of the pillars next to her, slowing herself down. She lands, face to face with the man she was hunting down.

“Come on, everything will be fine. We have to get out here before you get hurt.”

“Why did Claire stop?”

The knight turned her head towards the battle in disbelief. “What?! What is she thinking?”

The man uttered words to Claire, causing her to drop her sword. Her response was a vehement outcry that abruptly halted all combat. Amidst the tense silence, the man's laughter flew unresisted, and with a cruel kick, he sent Claire hurtling back towards us. She landed firmly where her statue once stood, a focal point for all eyes, but the shock had immobilized her, rendering her incapable of action.

The sudden wave of confusion pervaded the scene, prompting the Knights to surge forward to attack in an attempt to defend her. Amidst the chaos, unnoticed by all, a thin string of a vine darted towards Claire. I strained to see it, and when I did, disbelief gripped me. This was something else that I was powerless to stop. Claire, the strongest amongst us, possessed the power to halt such an attack effortlessly. But she didn't. She made no move to stop it.

In an instant, her neck was cruelly sliced, her head flung into the air, a sickening spectacle that left us all reeling in horror.

“MOMMY!!!”

My scream reverberated a raw eruption that felt like it could quake the very ground. Defying the Knights' attempts to restrain me, I sprinted toward my mother, desperate to reach her. In the span of a moment, Claire returned, only to be snatched away from me once more. Despite knowing her resilience, survival after a beheading seemed impossible. Despair washed over me, intensifying into a horrifying reality, plunging me into an abyss of terror and torment that I had just escaped from.

My mad dash towards the statue where Claire's headless body stood was abruptly halted. "Calm down, everything’s fine; she'll be alright!" The woman with pink hair restrained me from advancing any further.

"Are you blind?!" I erupted in anguish.

"What? Didn't she ever tell you? She can’t die. Look." The Knight's voice held an odd calmness as she gestured upward.

Confused and hysterical, my gaze followed her indication. To what goes against everything I knew, Claire's blood wasn't descending; instead, it remained connected to her head, pulling it back toward her neck. Her head reattached seamlessly, leaving no trace of the beheading.

"I can't do this any longer," Claire whispered.

The battle froze once again, an eerie silence stretching for what felt like an endless minute. "Sona," Claire addressed, her gaze fixed on the man who had ended her life moments ago. "Take care of Rae for me."

“What do you mean?! What’s wrong with you?!”

I broke free from the woman named Sona and ran around the broken statue to face Claire. Her eyes were wide open, still intensely staring at the planet’s enemy. Her legs were shaking subtly, with her hands being more noticeable. Her teeth were biting hard enough on her lips to draw blood that was constantly rising back inside.

Claire was completely paralyzed.

“You’re alive! Kill the bad guy!”

Claire ignored me. “He’s alive…taunting me. I…I can’t. I can’t kill him again.”

“What do you mean?” Sona asked.

The Knights encircled Claire, their confusion evident as she remained motionless. Their overlapping inquiries drowned each other out in a mess of voices. Amidst the chaos, a commanding voice rang out, overpowering the others. Earen, no longer among their ranks but still the leader of the Order, silenced the crowd. "It's Alysander, isn't it? I thought he seemed familiar."

Claire remained silent.

"Alysander? Isn’t he supposed to be dead?" The brown-skinned man, scarcely dressed, slammed the blunt end of his spear against the ground.

"Hey, I don't give a damn who he is. Claire, pull yourself together, alright? We have a task to complete," another Knight interjected.

"Enough!" Claire finally stirred, leaping down before us. "Nobody moves. Nobody speaks."

The man who had Claire paralyzed started his approach, taking his time and allowing this awkward and tense air to weigh down all of our lungs with anxiety. He had Claire’s sword in hand. The strongest humans all had their weapons raised, ready to attack but forbidden to do so. He stopped meters away from Claire, tossing the sword back to her.

Alysander, the epitome of malevolence, stood before us. I expected a more stereotypical villainous appearance, yet he resembled an ordinary man in many ways, albeit towering over even Earen. There was an absence of overt malevolence in his looks, save for his unsettling and enigmatic aura. Claire, despite being the only other one who I can sense, didn't evoke the same sense of unease.

At that current moment, only one distinguishing feature stood out in Alysander's appearance, his eyes. They were entirely white, devoid of iris or pupil, an echo of the monsters tainted by the Plague. I was too focused on them to pay attention to the other oddity, His hair, a natural white the same as my own, cascaded into a ponytail with tendrils curling to his jawline. Alysander didn’t look old, or young. He looked somewhere in between.

It was his eyes that unnerved me the most, an abyss resonating with an uncanny charisma concealing a darkness within. Those inhuman eyes wore an untold history, shrouded in mystery to me. A trace of a mocking smile always lingered on his lips, aimed solely at Claire. His demeanor exuded an unspoken expectation for obedience, compelling an instinct to feel the need to kneel. Everything about him urged me to cower in Claire's shadow.

“I don’t know why I expected something different to happen,” Alysander chuckled. “You’re still as beautiful as I remember. Maybe even more.”

“W…Why are you here?” Claire’s words trembled; something that had never happened.

“I wanted to see the look on your face. I gotta say, I thought nothing could shock you. I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me.”

“How is this possible??”

“I heard you were here with all of your little pets. So I flew in with a little trick I learned.”

“None of this makes sense. It’s been you all along? How are you using that magic? Why are you trying to break the seal? Is it just to spite me? Do you hate me that much? As revenge for what I did to you?”

“I still love you, Claire. That hasn’t changed after all this time. You mean more to me than what you mean to your master. You and I are one, Love. That eternal love is was kept me from returning to the planet. It took a long time and with a little help, that prayer you made finally came true. As to how, well, you just have to thank him for that. Not that your master would ever grant it anyhow.”

“You-”

“Yes. I know,” Alysander smirked. “What about you? How have you been? Are you satisfied with how everything turned out? Is the world how you want it to be? I have to say, I’m disappointed. Nothing’s changed; the only difference now is that the world knows your master exists.”

There was a long silence.

“I’m exhasuted, Alysander. I’m tired of everything. I don’t want to be here anymore. I want out these clothes, I want out this body. I want out of this world. I’m weary of humanity. I’m just a puppet who can’t do any real change.”

Claire's voice quivered as she paused, her emotions raw and unfiltered. "I hate the Goddess. I resent being nothing more than a tool, a weapon at her command. To safeguard her, to obliterate anything that threatens her, yet forbidden from erasing the very source of that toxicity. What purpose does my existence serve? I want nothing more but to die and end this agony, but that privilege is denied to me, isn't it? Why me? Why did I have to be the one? I don’t even remember anymore. I despise myself, Alysander. So, no, the world isn't as I wished it to be. I've failed in keeping the promise I made to you."

“So why not do more? Like what we tried in the beginning?”

“It doesn’t matter what I do. Humans would and will only twist it into serving their own selfish desires. As long as I stop the planet from dying, history can repeat iself as much as it wants. I don’t care anymore.”

“You truly are caged by your master,” Alysander laughed. “Then you are justifying me from doing the one thing that you cannot.”

“If your goal is to achieve that twisted idea, there are better ways of doing that. And regardless of how you learned to use the planet’s lifestream, it will still take centuries of you to accomplish that. What is actually going on? The Alysander I loved wouldn’t do such a senseless thing. You aren’t him.”

“Have you forgotten who I was before we met?”

“No.”

“Then you should remember the ways I won my battles. Look around you, what business do I actually have here? Haven’t you noticed? Did I do that good of a job?”

There was a short but heavy lull where I could feel her aura erupt in a sudden realization right after it.

“A distraction,” Claire cracked the ground with the stomp of her foot. “You wanted us here. Everything you’ve done was just to waste time. WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

“It was good to see you again, my love. Our time is up.” Alysander rose from the ground with wooden vines forming into wings that sprouted out of his back. “You’re wrong if you think it’ll take us centuries. I’m sure we’ll cross paths many more times from now. I’m looking forward to them. Have fun calming the chaos.”

"You think I'll just let you slip away?!" Claire poised her sword, yet faltered as she advanced, her resolve melting away. She found herself unable to strike again.

Alysander's laughter echoed as he rose, "You're always the same. If you had changed, I'd be a goner by now." Pausing momentarily in his stride, he met my gaze briefly before fixing his eyes back on Claire. "There are some things you can never release your grip on."

Claire remained frozen as this mysterious man from her past rose up to the clouds. The storm clouds that had been gathering finally released its rain. A small drizzle began to wash away the crimson iron paint haunting the surroundings. A drizzle that would transform into a downpour, relentless and erasing the vivid scarlet hue that seemed to mark the dreadful atmosphere surrounding them. But that’s that hue was the only thing it took away.

“You’re letting him get away?!” Earen ran up, reading his absurdly large axe to be thrown.

“Did I say you can move?!” Claire’s voice roared. She turned to face all of us, taking the time to look at each of her Knights but didn’t bother with me. “This whole thing was just a decoy. He isn’t working alone. Demeter has been summoned in Eos.

“Wait what?”

”It’s in battle as we speak but I don’t know why. Go there and do what you must. After that, the original plan is still happening. It never mattered who it was but now it just makes it easier. I want him alive long enough until you learn how he’s using The Goddess’ lifestream.”

“That’s your sorry excuse to let him live?” Someone scoffed.

“Sona.”

“What’s up?”

“You’re still exempt. Go home and have your child. Take Rae with you and raise her. Denzel’s dead. She’s yours now just how you always wanted.”

“Don’t even stress about it.”

“Oi, that’s a little biased, no? Watta ‘bout me? Shouldn’t I be home too?”

“Visit when you’re around, dear. The baby’s not due for another 7 months, I’ll be fine.”

Earen faced Claire, furious. “Is no one going to talk about Alysander being alive? That he’s going against us now? Look around at what he did, we failed at doing our only job. Public image is already bad enough.”

“You have no right worrying about your image after you ignored me thinking I was overreacting. All of this could have been prevented if you weren’t so stubborn in thinking you could handle it without my Knights.”

“Now that we know it’s Alysander, what will you be doing?” The only other woman in the Knights asked. “Are you not coming with us to deal with Demeter?”

“I only know what I read, but what happened between you two? What actually happened? You only let him go because of your guilt or what? Old Dr. June wasn’t lying in his stories, huh?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m heading for The Tower. The silence has gone long enough. I’ll get answers by force if I have to.”

“I know you’re the only one who can climb it, but didn’t you say it would take years?”

“Yes. I’ll be gone and disconnected for a while. Don’t any of you go dying on me meanwhile. You’ve all been told a secret that can never see the light of day. Use it to better prepare for whatever Alysander is planning.” Claire ordered around before finally acknowledging my presence. She kneeled down so she could get a better view of me, or so I could get a better look on her face. “You won’t see me for a bit. You’ll be staying with Sona, she’s a good girl. She’ll be nice to you, you can trust her. She’s who I trust the most.”

“Can’t I go with you?”

I observed Claire's unexpected smile with a mix of surprise and tentative hope, a fleeting glimpse of warmth from someone I'd long sought a connection with. When she rubbed the back of my head and pulled me into a hug, her soft words melted the crushing weight of emotions in me. Her admission that she couldn't push me away despite the things she'd said was the last thing I expected to hear. This wasn’t the Claire I knew.

She said, “Even after hearing all those things I said about you while you were eavesdropping, I just can’t seem to push you away. I still can’t make you hate me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently. Thinking about you. Listen, I can’t be the mom you want me to be, I’m not good for you. I don’t know how to be a human. I’m nothing more than a machine. So I have to go now. Grow up to be big and strong, okay? Beautiful too. I know you will be…”

“Am I just not good enough for you? Do you really not want me?”

“If I tell you that you were never anything to me, will you finally hate me?”

“No. Because I know you’re lying now. Why can’t go with you? I just want to stay with you! Why are you afraid of me?”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?!”

“I promise I’ll come back for you.”

“Promise?”

“I do.”

Claire wasn’t seen or heard from for seven years.